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The USCG issued
the following special notice to mariners U.S. yachts and sailing vessels with regard to
Somalia Piracy.

1. On February
18, 2011, a U.S. registered sailing vessel with 4 us citizens on board was hijacked
by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea, 282nm se of sur, Oman. During
negotiations for release of the vessel, the 4 us citizens onboard were killed.

2. The extreme
hazards of operating off the coast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian
Sea south to the Mozambique channel and east to the coast of India, requires
immediate education of the risk to any U.S. registered pleasure vessel
operating in these waters or U.S. citizens planning to transit these areas on
foreign flag registered pleasure vessels.

3. A special
notice to mariners warning vessel operators of this risk has been released
through the navcens website (http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/) and through
district local notices to mariners. The special notice has been provided
to national boating federation, nasbla, us sail, boat us, us power squadron,
and other boating/yachting enthusiast groups to post or link through their web
sites or publish in their newsletters, twitter-facebook or blog posts, or
monthly magazines.

4. Oceangoing
sailing vessel rallies and U.S. pleasure vessels involved in circumnavigation
voyages may be unaware of the extreme risk to life and vessels operating off
the east coast of Africa. The subject ntm was specifically released to
reinforce these important concerns and to provide contact information to
directly support the sailor in that they may have or plan voyages through these
high-risk waters. The widest dissemination of this ntm to the public and us
registered ocean yacht operators is imperative.

5. District and
unit recreational boating specialists, and unit auxiliarists should ensure
widest dissemination/education of this ntm and take every opportunity to meet with
yachting center managers and post/distribute the subject document
directly to yacht operators/owners who could be planning future circumnavigation
voyages.